5 observations: Flyers blitzed by Bruins as disastrous start to season continues with no end in sight

The Philadelphia Flyers were legitimately better against the Ottawa Senators, even in defeat. Two days later, however, they were back to the inexplicably disconnected and lifeless play that characterized their first four defeats.

Facing the possibility of their sixth loss in a row to start the 2026-27 season, the Flyers were thoroughly uncompetitive all day long, falling by a 5-1 score to the Boston Bruins and dropping to 0-4-2 on the season. Fraser Minten finished with three points on the day (one goal, two assists), while Pavel Zacha, Mason Lohrei, Marat Khusnutdinov and Casey Mittelstadt also scored for the Bruins.

Porter Martone scored his first goal of the season in the third period, but that was well into what certainly felt like garbage time in the moment, and was proven to be after the Bruins quickly potted two more goals to cement the final four-goal deficit for the Flyers. Dan Vladar stopped 27 shots in defeat, while Jeremy Swayman cruised to a victory while facing just 15 Philadelphia shots.

I supposed one could make the case that things didn’t really start going off the rails for the Flyers in this one until their first power play opportunity midway through the first period was a predictable disaster. Suddenly, a game that had been fairly close through nine minutes turned into Boston domination, with the Bruins taking the lead less than a minute after killing the penalty — a lead they never relinquished.

But it’s too charitable to blame this merely on the Flyers’ typically horrific power play, and the momentum-sapping effect it can have. A game this uncompetitive was lost before the puck was even dropped.

Which brings us to the “effort” question, that Porter Martone specifically addressed after Saturday’s game to the traveling media.

It’s true that plenty of people — myself included — have questioned the “effort” this season, specifically after the losses to the Penguins and Lightning. In those games especially, the Flyers appeared listless and disengaged, lacking any sense of urgency in their play. But it’s important to clarify the specific nature of the critique. I do not believe the Flyers aren’t trying. I don’t think that they don’t care. Based on my knowledge of the players and their locker room, I think they fully believe that they are giving it their all.

I just believe that they’re wrong.

It’s not that the Flyers aren’t trying at all. They’re not coasting around like it’s a beer league hockey game. But they are pretty clearly getting outworked by their opponents on a nightly basis (only the Ottawa game was an exception). They may be trying, but their opponents are trying harder right now, and the result has been a deluge of puck battles and puck races lost.

This isn’t a fan or media creation. Daniel Briere, the team’s GM, straight up said on the record on Saturday before puck drop that the root cause of the team’s issues is “compete level,” which isn’t exactly the same as “effort” but close enough that a hockey version of Thesaurus.com’s synonyms tool would likely suggest it to a frazzled writer on deadline. Tocchet used the same word — “compete” — in his frustrated one-minute postgame availability after Monday’s 4-1 defeat.

These are the people in the room, watching them up close even when the doors are locked. Their diagnosis: the players may be trying, but they’re not trying hard enough.

The Flyers were in a tough spot on Saturday, missing all of Travis Konecny, Rasmus Ristolainen and Cam York (who despite his poor start to the season is a true-talent top-four NHL defenseman) and being forced to dress two players who were full-time AHLers last season (Garrett Wilson and Helge Grans) and slot multiple players (namely the pairing of David Jiricek and Nick Seeler) further up the lineup than they should be playing. But the way to overcome tough circumstances? Compete. The Flyers have won plenty of games while undermanned over the past few seasons; every team has to face it sometimes. Some handle it better than others.

Right now, this Flyers team cannot handle it. They can’t handle anything. And if they don’t figure out how to start handling it, this season is going to be over for them before it barely begins.

OK, that’s enough on the players. Let’s move to Rick Tocchet and the culpability of the coaching staff.

Over the first four games, I found it difficult to put too much blame on the coaches, at least in terms of their impact of their on-ice tactics on this disastrous start. One could fairly criticize them for constructing apparently one of the least effective training camps in recent NHL history, and an inability to recognize just how unprepared the players were for the start of the season, but it was hard to pin things on Tocchet’s system — or his ability to teach it — when the players were struggling to make even the simplest of passes.

No “system” will look good with execution that poor. Most of their possession issues seemed to flow downstream from the inability to make a basic pass. If a team can’t break out or move up ice because they’re missing on even unpressured feeds, of course they’re never going to get shots. Of course the other team is going to be attacking with speed constantly. It’s a logical by-product of the absence of base-level competence.

This game was different. The Flyers did actually have the puck quite a lot. And it still was a mess.

This isn’t to say that the Flyers were doing a good job of passing the puck on Saturday. They weren’t. But they at least were able to successfully transition play from defense to offense. They had the puck enough to create offense and score goals. And that allowed for the current issues with the Flyers system — or at least the players’ execution of it — to really show.

First, there’s the forecheck, which Christian Dvorak specifically pointed out after the game. It was essentially toothless in this one. During the first period, when the Flyers were (presumably) trying to set a tone, they recovered just two of 16 dump-ins. Over the entire game, they retrieved 12 of 44 for a 27.27 percent rate — which for comparison’s sake, is well below their rate from 2025-26 (39.72%).

It’s just nowhere near good enough. The first forward (F1) isn’t getting in quick enough. Support has been sporadic. Too often F3 is getting sucked too deep, leading to odd-man rushes when the puck can’t be won by the first two forwards, which then leads to a more wide-open pace than the Flyers want to play.

Then, the offensive zone. Per my tracking, the Flyers had 44 possessions in the offensive zone at 5-on-5 during free play (not counting possession off offensive zone faceoff wins). To manage just 12 shots on goal from all of that possession is wild. The Flyers are missing the net far too often, presumably looking to pick corners. They’re coughing up pucks via passes to nowhere. On two occasions, the newfound focus on motion from the defensemen left just one blueliner up top with the puck. The first time, he tossed it to the vacated point (so, no one). The second time, he shot it into a Bruin player’s legs, leading to an immediate odd-man rush the other way.

And finally, there’s the defensive zone. The Flyers’ keep-them-to-the-outside zone defense style isn’t the only reason for the team’s lack of puck possession, but it’s not helping — especially in tandem with the compete issues that are leading to poor performance in puck battles. They simply take forever to win back pucks, and by the time they do, they’re gassed and just need to chip it out and change, starting the process over again.

As Dvorak noted after the game, the Flyers didn’t change their system much from how it worked last season, so it’s not hard to understand what they want to do. The combination of an effective offensive zone forecheck and their 1-1-3 neutral zone trap are meant in tandem to slow opponents’ advance and force lots of dump-ins. In the defensive zone, they want to protect the house while winning pucks back with strategically timed challenges and efficient puck battle victories. And on the attack, they eschew perimeter shots for high-quality chances, which require hard work along the boards and in front combined with creative passing to create.

When viewed through this lens, it’s pretty clear why this has been such a disaster so far. Because of the ineffective forecheck and constant turnovers, they’re not setting up their 1-1-3 enough for it to have a major impact on offense suppression, and the result is way too many controlled entries allowed. They’re not competing hard enough in the offensive zone to keep pucks alive, and they’re not making good enough decisions with the puck to create the shots that Tocchet wants, leading to the low SOG totals. And in the defensive zone, absent the well-timed bite that the system requires, they’re just letting opponents play keep-away and lower the Flyers’ offensive upside even further.

Which brings us back to Tocchet and his emphasis upon “compete” as the main issue. It’s easy to see why. If his teams don’t compete to a certain level, it short-circuits his entire system. But that’s not a sufficient defense of Tocchet. If a coach builds a system with a high level of compete at its foundation, he has to find ways to ensure that compete never flags. He has to excel at motivation and communication to prevent that outcome.

If the required compete is lacking, it’s on the players, yes. But it’s also on the coach, because it’s his job to make sure that his players get the message. That they know when to shoot and when to pass. When to challenge defensively and when to play passive. When to stay up at the point and when to activate. Right now, they don’t look like they have a clue. And that’s on Tocchet. Even if he’s trying to teach them, the message is not getting through.

And there are other tactical philosophies out there, including the one that just won a Stanley Cup. It’s an oversimplification of what they do, but Carolina’s offensive zone strategy is simpler than Tocchet’s because it basically just turns the whole team into bloodhounds — shoot, work like crazy to retrieve, shoot, repeat. Their man-to-man defensive zone strategy is far from foolproof, but there’s one thing it’s certainly not: passive. It doesn’t require the players strike the perfect balance between preventing and attacking. It’s simply about getting the puck as quickly as possible.

In fairness, this Flyers group has executed Tocchet’s preferred tactics well in the past — specifically, over the final six weeks of the 2025-26 regular season. So it’s not like they can’t do it. But right now, Tocchet cannot seem to get them back to that point, and they’re not just a couple ticks off. They’re miles away from the level of execution necessary.

Which leads us to three possible outcomes here. Tocchet finally gets his message back through to his players. Tocchet makes tweaks to his system which work better for this incarnation of the Flyers (tough given the busy slate to start the year). Or, nothing changes and the team continues to be embarrassed nightly. At least until the front office has enough and brings a new coach in for a full-fledged system overhaul.

First star: The fanbase’s patience

Yes, it’s only six games. And if the Flyers were losing in less embarrassing fashion, I’d be the first to caution against overreaction. But this time, things are actually as bad as they seem. The Flyers are getting crushed. Props to any fans that are still watching every minute of this nightly obliteration, as opposed to finding a less frustrating way to spend their time until the Flyers return to competency.

Second star: Dan Vladar

Yes, he gave up five goals and finished with an 0.844 save percentage. This game could easily have finished 10-1 if Vladar didn’t come up big as often as he did.

Third star: Porter Martone

He scored a goal.

None of them.

The first Bluto Blutarsky of the season (though the Pittsburgh game would have gotten that score as well, had the article been a traditional observations column). Zero point zero. Yes, they’re undermanned due to injury right now. But that’s no excuse for their uncompetitive display, especially after showing signs of life two nights earlier in Ottawa.